JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters

At the height of the Cold War, JFK risked committing the greatest crime in human history: starting a nuclear war. Horrified by the specter of nuclear annihilation, Kennedy gradually turned away from his long-held Cold Warrior beliefs and toward a policy of lasting peace. But to the military and intelligence agencies in the United States, who were committed to winning the Cold War at any cost, Kennedy's change of heart was a direct threat to their power and influence.

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Publisher's Summary

At the height of the Cold War, JFK risked committing the greatest crime in human history: starting a nuclear war. Horrified by the specter of nuclear annihilation, Kennedy gradually turned away from his long-held Cold Warrior beliefs and toward a policy of lasting peace. But to the military and intelligence agencies in the United States, who were committed to winning the Cold War at any cost, Kennedy's change of heart was a direct threat to their power and influence. Once these dark "Unspeakable" forces recognized that Kennedy's interests were in direct opposition to their own, they tagged him as a dangerous traitor, plotted his assassination, and orchestrated the subsequent cover-up.

Douglass takes listeners into the Oval Office during the tense days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, along on the strange journey of Lee Harvey Oswald and his shadowy handlers, and to the winding road in Dallas where an ambush awaited the president's motorcade. As Douglass convincingly documents, at every step along the way, these forces of the Unspeakable were present, moving people like pawns on a chessboard to promote a dangerous and deadly agenda.

If you could sum up JFK and the Unspeakable in three words, what would they be?

See "Additional Comments" Come on- - - three words to summarize a book this powerful, this revealing and this important. You must be kidding.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The author for his courage and dedication to impeccable research and maintaining as much impartiality as is possible for a book of this kind.

Which character – as performed by Pete Larkin – was your favorite?

Can't say.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When it became clear that both Khruschev AND JFK were determined to avert the nuclear wars that both of their generals and admirals were trying so hard to initiate.

Any additional comments?

This book is the absolute best book I have ever read on the subject of the reasons-for and the results-of the JFK assassination. Douglass brings to light truths about JFK's devotion to co-creating a peaceful world with Premier Khruschev and the fact that JFK had faced his own death for so long and in so many ways that he was more prepared to fight the valiant battle plan than any President before or after. Douglass brilliantly brings out the humanity of both Kennedy and Khruschev and the nightmarish battles they had to fight with their own subordinates, who wanted to start preemptive wars between our two nations. The documentation of other assassination scenarios in the U.S. which were overlooked or completely obfuscated and the way that evidence was discarded made this book stand high above most I have read. My personal collection on the JFK murder is over 175 books, plus articles, and correspondence with the principal authors and authority figures surrounding the assassination, investigation and its research. If every student was required to read this book as a prerequisite to graduating from high school, our nation would be transformed into a far more peace-oriented and life-sustaining tribe of people. James W. Douglass deserves highest honors for this work.

At first I was a bit skeptical about what angle a thelologian would take on this subject. Boy, was I surprised. Is one of the finest history books I have ever read (and listened to in my car) and perhaps the finest book I have read on the JFK assassination. Well worth the investment.

Fifty years from now, only a few books about the JFK assassination will be remembered. One is Mark Lane's Rush To Judgment. Another is Crossfire, by Jim Marrs. Now we have maybe the best I've seen, JFK And The Unspeakable.

James Douglass provides the context needed to understand why the assassins of JFK would take the monumental risk of killing a U.S. President, then running a cover-up for decades. President Kennedy entered office as a cold warrior, but then he turned away from the Cold War. His nuclear test ban treaty was just a taste of the changes JFK envisioned. He was already starting a Vietnam withdrawal and was having secret communications with the Soviet Union and Cuba. The military-industrial-intelligence complex was threatened by a second JFK term, they felt double-crossed, so they killed him. They plotted a public assassination because it would send a message to anybody else who was thinking about crossing them. One result of the assassination is our permanent state of war in 2011.

Only a third of the book is about the assassination, but Douglass shows us enough. We see how the intelligence operative Lee Harvey Oswald was set up as the patsy. We observe the beginning of the cover-up. Douglass presents enough evidence to make his case, but he doesn't mire us in "assassination minutiae" which would disturb the clarity of his presentation.

The narration is what I call "transparent." If you've ever seen a movie and never noticed the music, the music was having its effect without being conspicuous. The narration by Pete Larkin is not a "performance," it's a clean transmission of the book to the listener, well done.

When ever I get ready to believe that Oswald was innocent of any wrong doing, I go back to Frazier's testimony that Oswald carried that package into the TSBD. Just before I'm prepared to condem Oswald I think about those gentlemen on the grassy knoll with the fake Secret Service credentials. After listening to this book at length, I have come to the conclusion that Oswald was dirty in this regard. He carried a weapon into the TSBD and was told to place it on the sixth floor. This would explain, Oswald being on the second floor shortly after the shooting. He left the building to meet up with his co-conspirators, totally blind to the fact the he was being blamed for the actual shooting of Kennedy and Tippet. "I didn't shoot anybody, I'm just a patsy. I've done nothing to be ashamed of." In his mind leaving a rifle on the sixth floor was probably nothing to be ashamed of since he didn't use it.

This book covered a lot of area's that only add to the mystery of who was involved and strengthens the whole "end-around, mis-direction play" that has kept the cover-up intact for fifty years. It also proves that the "Lone nut" garbage is the conspiracy theory and no where close to the truth.

Yes, I have and will. To gain a deeper understanding of, not only the assasination, but of the workings of the shadow government to supplant constitutional government, of, by, for the people, with one fashioned and controlled by them to serve their narrow interests at the expense of the national welfare.

Who was your favorite character and why?

John Kennedy, because I learned more about his courage and thoughtful plans to disengage from the insanity which threatened at the time and has since become our daily bread. What a different world it might be had he lived to see his plans brought to fruition.

What does Pete Larkin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I'm a slow reader because I often have to go back and rephrase something when it hasn't sounded right in my head. Larkin's understanding and familiarity with the material provides that dramatization of the story line in an uninterupted flow effortlessly.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Prophiles in usurpation.

Any additional comments?

It should be required reading in every high school and test questions on its contents a prerquisite for holding public office. We might get our national integrity back.

This book opens the listener up to unimaginable revelations about JFK. It goes into great depth into answering the question of why as well as how he was killed. The only draw back I found with the book is it seemed very mixed up. One minute your in 1963 and then your back in 1960; it jumps back and fourth through most of the book.

If you could sum up JFK and the Unspeakable in three words, what would they be?

Research. Presentation. Depth.

What other book might you compare JFK and the Unspeakable to and why?

Books by Mark Lane, Rush to Judgement, Plausible Deniability or Last Word, for example.

What about Pete Larkin’s performance did you like?

The narrator spoke clearly, at an even pace, and did not mispronounce words, as often happens with Audible history narrators.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Learn once and for all the truth about the JFK murder.

Any additional comments?

This book handles deftly the wide range of evidence that the CIA construed and implemented the murder of JFK. Especially interesting are many of the eyewitness accounts to the original plan to murder him in Chicago on Nov. 2, the Oswald double, and the getaway flight of two of the perpetrators. Douglass presents clearly and fairly the stories of the many witnesses to the conspiracy.

He also goes into great depth on the why of the murder. In sum, it was because Kennedy was turning away from cold war posturing, and turning to peace initiatives that defied the entrenched authority of the CIA and their military allies. He went so far in pursuing peace, that he had to be killed. The specifics are well known: the bay of pigs debacle and hatred for Kennedy among those in the CIA who were involved; a possible rapprochement with Castro; Kennedy's convincingly presented desire and program to extract the US from Viet Nam; the comprehensive test ban treaty Kennedy supported between the US and USSR; and most especially his growing partnership with Khrushchev to move the world towards a non-war footing, after their sobering brinksmanship during the Cuban missile crisis. Douglass makes much of Kennedy's inspiring American University address of June 1963, which wrote sealed to his death warrant.

I do have a couple of minor criticisms, but I hope they do not discourage anyone from enjoying this thoroughly researched and important book. One is that Douglass, as a Catholic and peace advocate, tries to tie in too often the views and comments of Thomas Merton. They are relevant, but do not deserve the weight he gives them. Another is that Douglass presents baldly the evidence of all the eye witnesses to the activities of Oswald and his CIA double leading up to and on the day of the assassination, but never summarizes the whole rather confusing sets of evidence in a clear statement. Finally, it may be going too far to attribute of JFK the role of peace martyr. He is treated with perhaps a little more reverence than deserved, though Douglass never hesitates to point out a few of his personal shortcomings.

These minor matters only very slightly detract from the powerful presentation and in-depth research that makes this the best assassination book, from the evidential and historical perspectives, I have read.

Would you consider the audio edition of JFK and the Unspeakable to be better than the print version?

Never read the book but the story if sometimes heavy on too much detail is rivetting

Who was your favorite character and why?

JFK- I did not realise he had a vision for world peace motivated by risks of Cuban crisis. He convinced Kruschev to embrace his vision but was constantly thwarted by CIA , the military & the giant industrial corporations

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The early stages where Lee Harvey Oswald is set up by CIA

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too big for that & tbh high levels of concentration needed

Any additional comments?

Listen & learn...I know conspiracy theorists have a bad press but just too many facts that all lead to one conclusion. The CIA decided & implemented the to assassination of the president of the USA.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Matt

Marchington, United Kingdom

2/9/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Really interesting and if true quite scary"

Interesting theories on Kennedy and the motivation behind his as well as other assassinations are plausible. Especially as US politics are so intertwined with big business. Kennedy threatened the income of many big firm by acting as peacemaker

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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